Happy New Year everyone! This year, the hubby and I decided to go out with friends for dinner and dancing on New Year’s Eve. We have been married for Continue reading
Hi friends, hope you are having a nice holiday season! I worked through the Christmas holiday, but did take Christmas day off and we went out of town to spend Christmas Eve and day with family! I was back to work December 26. We hadn’t been to San Francisco for a few months, so I took a few days off during the last week of December to go to San Fran with my hubby. We were back in town for New Year’s Eve, to welcome the new year with family!
The weeks before Christmas were packed with work, hosting interviews, writing scripts, production, planning for 2014, a phone bank for the Month of a Million meals campaign, completing goals…oh and a visit from a very famous Mouse & his friend Donald Duck….and this was just at work. In my personal life, it was the normal holiday busyness, shopping for gifts, preparing for Christmas, and the pleasant side – spending time with family and friends! It was a packed few weeks, but tons of fun!!! How did you prepare for the holidays?
Hugs,
Paola
One of the favorite (& most fun) parts of my job is hosting interviews – particularly when my friends from Disneyland come to the stations! They were doing a media tour regarding the Holidays at Disneyland Resort. This was the Hispanic marketing team – I hosted & produced the interview for Azteca. This year Mariachi Divas joined the holiday team, it was a special treat to meet these Grammy Award winning musicians! Donald Duck danced to the holiday music performed by Mariachi Divas! So cute, an unforgettable moment 🙂
I purchased a “veladora,” votive candle, for the Virgin Mary’s Saint Day (Santo). I’ve been pretty good about turning it on to pray every day (when at home), even if just for a few minutes, and being thankful for all my blessings! 
We shot the mid-campiagn interview for the Month of A Million Meals campaign.
Later in the week, Mickey Mouse stopped by the station with the Disneyland Resort general market team. I hosted and produced an interview for ABC10 regarding the Holidays at the Disneyland Resort. Even though I have been producing and hosting these interviews for years now, I always feel giddy when I see Mickey Mouse! How lucky am I to get to interview Mickey Mouse at work?
My hubby and I went to Newport Beach and stayed at the Fairmont Hotel for a little weekend getaway. They had beautiful Christmas decorations and this amazing gingerbread house! It was nice to get away during the hectic-ness of the holidays and have a relaxing breakfast….and sip my coffee calmly.
While in Newport Beach we had dinner at an Italian restaurant. I enjoyed the best seafood risotto ever! It was so good that I brought the leftovers home and had it for lunch the next day, ha!
We did some Christmas shopping at Fashion Island (in Newport Beach). There was an amazing Christmas tree (super tall, compare it to the palm trees in this pic) & beautiful holiday decorations.
It was my niece’s birthday and we went to her party at Lazer Journey! Love this little girl! It’s a pleasure and honor to be her aunt, and see her grow up!
The Donation Day Phone Bank we organized for Month of a Million Meals on ABC10 & Azteca San Diego was successful! Chopper the Biker Dog joined us for part of the Phone Bank, such a cute doggie!
I watched my nephews on a Saturday and we decorated a gingerbread house – it has become a holiday tradition! It was fun to spend the day with them!
My hubby started the fireplace on one of the weekends and I enjoyed it while sipping my morning coffee!
The weekend before Christmas, I spent a few hours wrapping the final batch of gifts.
We shot the last interview for the Month of a Million Meals campaign – a last push to ask for donations, we were close to reaching the goal and still had a week to continue fundraising!
The day before Christmas Eve, we shot a series of promo commercials with my nieces at my home. The promos are for the Community Calendar segments I host on Azteca San Diego 15. My nieces appeared in them, so we scheduled the shoot at a time when they were on break from school. Thanks to the wonderful team of producers and videographers I work with the spots look excellent! It was a fun shoot – I’m so proud of my nieces, such talented young girls!
Took a few days off from work before New Year’s Eve to go to San Francisco with my hubby.
Went to South Coast Plaza in Orange County for some after Christmas “sales” shopping. This is one of my favorite shopping centers. The holiday decorations were beautiful.
Welcomed the New Year in San Diego with my hubby and family! We went to dinner at my brother & sister-in-law’s home, it was delicious & fun! We all stayed up past midnight (nieces included) and welcomed 2014 with joyous celebration!
Hi friends, it’s a new year! Yup, 2014 has begun! Can you believe it? It seems 2013 flew by….yet, I can remember many good things about the year! There were challenges too – I mean bad/hard times, but I try to stay positive, so I call them “challenges” ;). I try to learn from challenges, to find something positive in them or a learning experience. Overall, 2013 was a very good year! I have many blessings to be thankful for, most important are the well-being of my family, friends, a wonderful husband and the home we form, my health, and a rewarding career.
My grandmother uses a saying,”Every problem has a solution, as long as you are alive and healthy, there is a solution!” I try to apply that as much as possible and it helps – and is very true. So, I feel very, very blessed and fortunate, regardless of the challenges life brings, we always find a solution. In 2013, the hardest moment for me was losing my Uncle Abel. I wrote about his passing in my blog and am dealing with getting used to living without his presence in our family. I say “getting used to living without his presence” because I don’t think I will ever overcome his death, as many of us never get over the death of a loved one. So, having said that, this was the only challenge in the year I could not find a solution for. Everything else, we fixed, got over or moved forward from, learned from it and it made us stronger or wiser….and many of these things seem unimportant today.
These past few days, I’ve been reflecting on the year…..the year that just passed and the year to come. I used to write New Year’s Resolutions, but haven’t done that in a while. I do have goals and plans, I write some of them down, but I do this at multiple times of the year, not just on New Year’s Day.
I did a little research and learned that New Year’s Resolutions have been around since the times of the Romans, they would begin their year making promises to the god Janus, for whom January is named. The tradition has continued and many people still write them every year. These resolutions are usually goals, plans, or acts of self-improvement (I almost always have a resolution to lose those last 5 pounds, ha) beginning the new year.
My resolutions this year include:
– Call my mom & grandmother more often (they are in my thoughts & prayers daily, but I want to call them more often)
– Spend more time with close friends (life has many demands on our time, but my close friends are like family to me)
– Exercise more often (I’ve been slacking the past few months)
– Eat healthier (I eat pretty healthy, but can improve)
– Read more (a hobby I enjoy & learn from -I read non-fiction- but have spent less time doing lately)
– Spend more time on my blog – add posts more often (I am enjoying the blog & the interaction with you, it has become a nice community & am glad you are also enjoying it, thanks for your comments, it warms my heart when I meet people and they tell me they read the blog! Thank you!)
– Learn to edit video & photos (I have wanted to learn to edit video for the past year, but have prioritized other projects at work, this year I need to learn it and will make it a priority)
-Improve my skills in social media and learn about the latest marketing trends (I believe in self-improvement and continuos growth, I’m always trying to find ways and get feedback from colleagues on how to improve my work, be it my on-camera skills, the projects I work on, producing, managing, marketing, etc…there is always room for growth)
I have another personal resolutions and will share it if….when it comes true.
Best wishes to all of you and God bless! May 2014 bring you everything you want, health, happiness, success, and many, many blessings!
Do you write New Year’s Resolutions? What are they, share in the comments!
Hugs & Happy New Year,
Paola
This pic is from a few years ago, it is so festive I decided to add it to the post 🙂 Happy New Year’s!
